Deja Vu

Chapter 36: Times Are A Changin'

It's been about a month since.. 'The Incident'. You look in the mirror as you prepare for the day, looking over your face. Your mind flashes back to the images of Crowley, ink dripping from his eyes. The haunting visage of the headmage with the crow blot creature. That creature.. a crow with three legs.. It reminded you of Karasu.

Karasu was a mythological creature often referred to as an allegory in the distant history of Devildom for a story of a messenger..

And yet, every other overblot creature you've ever seen was a figure from history, or an over-exaggeration of a person's strongest impulses.

Right?

It was easy to reason why the overblot creatures for each of the students reflected one of the founding figures of legend; They'd spent their lives working to emulate those figures. To some degree, one could say each of them were connected to those figures. You even had dreams relating to the figures their dorms were based off of before they overblotted.

Even the creature from the mine could have reflected one of the miners from the story of the Beautiful Queen.

But how did Crowley become connected to Karasu? Your perspective could be consumed by your time in Devildom, sure, but what other three-legged crows have you ever heard of? If it wasn't Karasu, what could it mean?

Did it have a connection to your letter? A curse set in motion by a letter.. Your head starts to spin. Karasu was considered an entity associated with carrying messages. The only message you're aware of is the one you sent. Did pouring your anger into your letter cause that? Or is Crowley a messenger of some kind?

Maybe you're thinking too hard about this.

Grim sleepily meanders into the room, groaning something about being hungry. He looks up to you and sees that you're obviously nervous, and it clicks to him that today's the day you're both going to the human realm. He crosses his arms and scowls. ".. You're not gettin' worked up again, are ya'?"

".. It's hard not to."

"Look, whatever happens, you've got THE GREAT SORCERER GRIM at your side." He strikes a pose, grinning. "Whatever happens, it's not gonna be that bad, yeah?"

"..." It's still hard to shake the gut-sinking feeling that's tearing at your innards.. But it is a little easier when you think about Grim being by your side for always. Your mind tries to convince you that you need to prepare for the possible outcome that you could lose him, but you know better than to let the panic settle in.

As of now, Grim will always be with you. Neither of you would let anything else happen, so, you let yourself trust in that comfort.

He sees you visibly relaxing a little as you reframe the fears about the coming day. Grim jumps up to the counter, and he begins trying to use the levitation spell Solomon's been teaching him to brush his teeth.

As he precariously balances a toothbrush in the air with his magic, you head back into your room. You have nothing to pack except yourself, Grim, and your new phone. Idia helped you transfer all the data to your new phone from both your previous phone and your DDD. You even have access to your old music again.

You sift through the music on your phone and settle on one that helps you feel like you can face the day as you go through the preparation stuff you've prepared. The brothers have been having a hard time adjusting since they witnessed an overblot, but even then, they've still made time to help you and make sure your needs are being met.

Your mind drifts back to some of the conversations you've had with them since The Incident™.

Leviathan was the first one to approach you about it, which surprised you. And when he did, his questions surprised you even more.